Exercising a longer attention span

Less than a year ago, grade-schooler Conor McTavish was first out at dodge ball and watched playground soccer games from the sideline. Diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and motor skill delays, the bright, articulate 11-year-old often lost his place on the page and struggled to put his thoughts on paper and keep his mind from wandering.

Wary of medication and frustrated by a series of unsuccessful therapies, his mother, Kathy McTavish, enrolled her son in the DORE center, an alternative Needham treatment program for children with ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning difficulties. Through daily balance and hand-eye coordination exercises, Conor's physical and mental dexterity have improved in lockstep, he and his mother said.

Now the fifth-grader at the Patrick O'Hearn Elementary School in Dorchester is reading better, has been bumped up to advanced math, and the other day, kicked a ball onto the roof at school, which Conor excitedly described as a noteworthy O'Hearn playground milestone.

Kathy McTavish, 47, said she was initially skeptical of the center's contention that daily exercises like tossing a beanbag and balancing on a wobble board could improve his focus and mental clarity. But after just six months in the two-year program, which costs $4,500, her son had shown impressive gains, she said.

''He had coordination and depth-perception problems, but no one thought they were linked to the reading and attention problems," she said. ''But the exercises have helped him with everything."

The DORE program is based on recent research suggesting that many learning disorders stem from the same source -- a part of the brain called the cerebellum increasingly believed to play a role in both movement and mental processing. Some studies have indicated a link between an underdeveloped cerebellum and learning difficulties, raising hope that drills specifically stimulating that part of the brain can reduce learning and attention problems.

The techniques are unproven and not widely accepted by the mainstream medical community but have attracted parents anxious to help their children and increasingly worried about the side effects of drugs used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Food and Drug Administration is considering adding warnings about an increased risk of cardiovascular problems.

The DORE center McTavish attends, in Needham, is one of five in the United States and touts its program as a permanent solution that takes aim at the neurological root of the problem rather than the symptoms. Just as lifting weights builds muscles, repeating specific exercises can in time teach the brain to process information more efficiently and reflexively, DORE proponents say.

''It's a rewiring of the brain," said DORE's David Pfeil.

''It's dealing directly with the source of the difficulties. If someone has a stone in their shoe, they don't take an Advil."

Pfeil said DORE is ''drug-neutral" but added many parents are drawn to the center's drug-free approach. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 4.4 million children ages 4-17 have been diagnosed with ADHD and well over half are receiving medication as treatment. In 2003, 7.8 percent of school-aged children were reported to have an ADHD diagnosis by their parent.

The rising number of children labeled with the disorder has stirred criticism of overdiagnosis and children being medicated unnecessarily and has fueled demand for alternative approaches.

Adrienne Albani, a Dedham resident whose son John has mild ADHD, found the program a year ago after various drug treatments left the seventh-grader lethargic and with a diminished appetite. Within six months, his focus had sharply improved, and his writing and reading improved in kind. He no longer blurted answers in class and was able to do his homework without distraction.

''I was skeptical because it's not a proven treatment," she said. ''But it's helped him so much."

The DORE program was created in England six years ago by Wynford Dore, who was trying to find a cure for his daughter's ADHD and severe dyslexia. He assembled a research team of neurologists and instructed them to ''ignore conventional wisdom."

They eventually came to believe that with enough practice, the brain could be altered so that the disorder's symptoms all but disappear. ''The brain is far more elastic than we previously thought," he said.

Jeremy Schmahmann, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said there is growing evidence that the cerebellum, long considered purely responsible for motor control, also influences ''behavior and intellect."

But the theories that learning disorders are caused by an underdeveloped cerebellum, and that DORE's exercise program can improve brain development, are unproven, he said.

Dore points to a 2002 independent, peer-reviewed study by two British researchers that found that program participants caught up to their peers in reading and shed ADHD symptoms as evidence of the program's success. There have been no American studies of the program.

Edward Hallowell, a child psychiatrist and founder of a Sudbury center specializing in attention deficit and learning disorders, enrolled his teenage son Jack in DORE after tutoring and medication failed to improve his reading. Hallowell was dubious at first, but was soon convinced.

''When I first heard about it, I thought there is no way," Hallowell acknowledged. ''Physical exercise isn't going to help someone read." But after four months in the program he was enjoying reading more than he ever had.

Hallowell, who is a paid consultant for DORE, said there is a ''plausible link" between exercise and brain development, but it is unconfirmed.

''Whether or not physical exercise rewires the cerebellum, that's up for grabs," Hallowell said. ''We can't recommend it with the same certainty as medication," he said.

At a recent evaluation at the DORE center, Conor McTavish sat in a chair with three sensors attached to his temple and visually tracked a fast-moving red light on a screen in front of him.

As with all the exercises, the goal is to improve sensory processing so the mind doesn't get overwhelmed.

''It declutters the brain," said his therapist, Michelle McCausland.

Conor, echoing many parents of children in the program, said he's less interested in the theory than the results.

''I think the exercises have helped. I can concentrate better, and I'm better at a lot of things."

Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.